Why was it necessary to disable the chat entirely? It was enough to add a possibility to switch it off for those who did not want it. I am from worldpostalcode.com/united-states/oregon/portland and the ability to chat was one of the attractive features of the game. You felt like a part of the community. The chat added some personification to the game, making it close to reality.

Also there was an official topic about the spectator chat from Admins, and I also commented there, but I will raise my voice again here. Thanks ojo for opening this topic and I strongly disagree with the idea of prohibiting spectator chat. The reasons are all mentioned before, so I would not say again. Here, I focus on the solution.

Following DocteurClick's comment, I suggest the option of enable "spectator chat" in the setting of a table. This is so far the simplest solution - for anyone who feels some strange spectators going in to say is weird, they can turn it off. For some tables with our friends playing, or a familiar game that we propose to save our place for the later one, it's good to talk and propose.

I really hope that the prohibition of spectator chat will change as soon as it can.

Fix the chat or I -for one- am done with paying for this site. My friends and I like to watch and interact with each other’s game. It’s the basis of the social element. If you’re scared of cyber bullies or just annoying folks, put ‘disable’ in the game settings. Seriously? Who creates a social site and then bars socializing???

I'm disapointed by this decision too, but also by the lack of communication about it; i mean maybe there was some valid reason for it, maybe a situation came up which made this necessary - and if we would get the explanation we would understand - but as far as i can see nothing has been said... (if I'm wrong, would someone be so kind as to post the link). I liked chatting as a spec and i liked also other reacting - to me the ability to mute the chat was a perfect way to prevent it from becoming annoying - hope they bring the chat back! and if not, hope to get an explanation...

Yeah I came here to say how disappointed that the spectator chat has been banned. Straight away it was felt in our gaming group, where we used to pop in on friends games and have a chat. We can't even chat in a game where it's such a collection of friends. It is rather ridiculous and I for one will hope it is reversed

Chiming in and voting for re-instating spectator chat. When someone in our group shows up late after a game has already started, the spectator chat is handy for them to announce their presence and kill time chatting.

The spectator chat being enabled/disabled at the table options seems like a good solution. With enabled by default.